Houston Trueblood and Professor Robert Barrett, Visual Arts
One of the most well-known and admired areas of Brazil, the state of Bahia has come to be regarded as the “Second Africa” of the world. It’s people, culture, and heritage, have a unique and fascinating history. The title of the project, Sou da Bahia (translated, I’m from Bahia), carries a profound meaning. It is a statement that communicates immense cultural pride. It’s a badge of honor and homage to the strong creative spirit that thrives there.
From new-world colony to modern state, Bahia has undergone numerous social and political revolutions. Even through innumerable conflicts and trials, the people of Bahia maintain their identity and national pride through the strength of the human spirit and self-expression. Though many the world over have enjoyed the fruits of Bahia’s cultural affluence—bossa nova, samba, and capoeira all have their origins there—few have truly attempted to reach an understanding their visual art.
My purpose was to travel to Bahia and explore the role of visual art in its cultural identity. Having once served in Bahia as a missionary for the Church, I was able to live there and experience first-hand the warmth and vibrancy of her people. However, as my time was dedicated to teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I was not able to fully appreciate the place visual art had in their lives. I felt that, as an artist, in order for me to better understand Bahia, I needed to connect my passion for art with my love of the people and culture.
As part of a collaborative project, I traveled with three other students to Bahia during August of this year. Together, we interviewed artists, art collectors, museum curators, gallery directors, and many others about visual art in Bahia. In tandem, we gathered visual reference to better synthesize what we learned and saw into a final collaborative, artistic expression. Our goal, as a group, was to take selected visual and cultural themes we found there, and expand on those themes in our own visual terms. Each of us, using our preferred media—painting, photography, and film—would communicate our own thoughts, feelings, and insights of what we experienced there. Our goal is to ultimately emulate the creative spirit we felt in Bahia in a way that truthfully expresses our experiences, while at the same time, displaying the facets of Bahian culture that we found to be uplifting, interesting, and inspiring.
My research methods were less conventional. I was searching, in part, for an identity of “Bahian Art.” To do this required me to explore several abstract ideas, including “What is art?” “What defines Bahian culture?” and “What role does art play in expressing cultural identity?” To accomplish this, I searched for patterns in local art and tried to identify the common message of these patterns. It quickly became apparent, however, that the answers would not be found within a timeframe of one month, nor could they be identified by individuals who had spent their entire lives in the region. Paradoxically, the answers I found led me to self-reflexive questions, such as “What is art to me?” “What defines Bahia for me?” and “How can I express cultural identity in my art?”
After visiting many art galleries, museums, parks, street, and homes, I was able to identify aspects of local art that expressed the concept of “Bahian art” for me. Texture played a large roll in many of my favorite works. Vibrant color was used almost across the board. Abstraction was a dominant theme in most works, with few purely representational contemporary pieces. African themes and primitivism played an important part in many artists’ works.
What I related to most, not only on a purely aesthetic level but in a metaphorical sense as well, was the use of texture, abstraction, and space as an element of design. As I noticed these principles being applied in others’ art, I felt the need to emulate those aspects in my own art. For me, this was the true accomplishment of my research. It was the successful fusion of my love of Bahian culture with my years of training in visual art. I felt that the gap between my academic experience and my gospel-centered mission had been bridged.
Now, as my research in Bahia has come to an end, I am on track to creating my portion of the collaborative exhibit. It will be a reflection of what I learned from Bahian artists and what I have learned here in the Department of Visual Arts. Through my paintings, I hope to communicate my love for the culture of Bahia and help others to experience their own connections with it.